First Two Weeks with the State Treasurer

My first two weeks with the State Treasurer has included both exciting days and not-so- exciting days. I began on January 4th, which I chose to give myself enough time to feel comfortable working in the Capitol while it was relatively quiet, because Session did not start until the following week. I knew that the Capitol would be relatively quiet because the GA was not in session, but it was even quieter than I had expected.

Although I am working for the Treasurer, I work in his legislative office which is charged with monitoring legislation the Treasurer is interested in and lobbying members of the General Assembly to vote certain ways on bills. I have three co-workers that are here on a full-time basis. John and Sheleda are both staff with the legislative division and Brittany is another intern who is working to complete her masters degree through the University of Illinois Springfield. Colleen is the director of legislative affairs for the Treasurer but remains in her Chicago office except for when the General Assembly is in Session. While Colleen is not here, John is the one I ususally answer to, but with technology Colleen always knows what is going on with our office, either through email or conference calls. John has worked in the Capitol building for over 20 years in various positions and is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to all things involving the General Assembly.

My first day involved mainly orientation type stuff. John gave Brittany and I a tour of the capitol, much more extensive than the one you recieve on school field trips. He showed the two of us a lot of shortcuts and hallways not generally seen to the outside public and I know that when the time comes for me to find a Senator or Rep's office there is no way I will find my way back.

The rest of the day is mostly spent in conference calls discussing the Treasurer's big issue for the second half of the 96th General Assembly, Debt Settlement. Essentially the legislation is proposing restrictions on debt settlement companies that advertise their ability to help consumers get out of debt, but more often than not the consumer suffers due to high fees from the company and leaves them in a worse credit situation than before. If the legislation passes, debt settlement companies will face a limit on what they can charge consumers and there will be more transparency on what services the company is actually providing.

The legislative division reads every bill that is proposed in the General Assembly so bills that are of possible interest to the Treasurer can be monitored. Reading the proposed bills took up a good part of my first week on the job, but it was something I found myself enjoying. For one, it made the days fly by and two, it was interesting to find out what issues the legislators are concerning themselves with. Some of the legislation is likely to become issues of high importance in the upcoming Session, while other pieces of legislation actually make you laugh at their absurdness.

During the first week, John also took Brittany and myself to other divisions within the State Treasurer's office, such as Unclaimed Property and Bright Start (Illinois' college savings program). On Friday, the Director of Unclaimed Property came to the Capitol to give us a tour of the Treasurer's vault (which is actually located several floors beneath my desk) and contains any physical items in the Unclaimed Property division (these items are often found in safety deposit boxes that are inactive for years and are then turned over to the Treasurer to hopefully return the contents of such boxes to a rightful owner or to be sold on an auction). I was warned that the vault really wasn't that exciting- which it wasn't. But it is something that most people don't get the chance to do.

Monday, January 11th began my second week on the job. Most of the morning and some of the afternoon was spent at the Illinois building, down the street from the Capitol, where the biggest portion of the Treasurer's staff is located. The staff located in this building deal with the Treasurer's investments and general financial "stuff". We met with the Deputy Treasurer, people from internal audit, accounting, and several other divisions. Even though it was obvious that those we spoke with were attempting to put their job description in plain language, some of what they were talking about was still way over my head. It made me wish I had maybe taken an Econ class or two during undergrad. Maybe.

Monday afternoon was my first trip to a General Assembly committee hearing. I was a little nervous about it, since I was the only one from my office attending and I was expected to report back. But I prepared myself about the slated topic for the hearing and felt confident I would be fine. I was surprised, however, to find out that the original topic for the hearing was changed and now the committee was discussing a bill about Medicare funding, not something I have much (or any) familiarity with. To add to my frustration, some members of the committee were not there, so others were subbing for people, and it was obvious that some of the committee members were more worried about checking into their hotels for the night and getting ready for the start of session on Tuesday. This all led to a rather chaotic and rushed hearing. However, I took as many notes as possible and returned to my office prepared to research the bill more. As it turns out, the proposed funding stemmed from something done last year in the GA which I had no idea about and John came to my rescue and explained things once I talked to him about it.

Tuesday was the first day of Session and the Capitol was the complete opposite of the week prior. From my office there was a constant buzz all day long that could be heard out in the rotunda. This was the Capitol I had been picturing when I found out that is where I would be working everyday. The office listens to the GA everyday it is in session though speakers that are located in our office. Sheleda and I have our desks on the main floor of the office and listen to the House if both chambers are in session at the same time, while John and Brittany sit upstairs and listen to the Senate. The beginning of session was a little anti-climatic as both chambers had one party request to caucus within minutes of beginning. However, when the House reconvened, the representatives discussed the Medicare funding bill (Which I thankfully knew much more about now) and passed it out of the House, along with several other pieces of legislation. Listening to the House or Senate floor was a little hard for me at first, but I got used to it and when I listened Wednesday it was definitely much easier to follow.

Wednesday was a very hectic but exciting day in the Capitol. The Senate began session at 9 and the House at 10:30 and the Governor was set to give his State of the State address at noon. After to listening to the GA for several hours I had the opportunity to meet Treasurer Giannoulias who was in Springfield for the address, along with Robin Kelly his chief of staff and several other senior staff members that came on the trip with him. Colleen chose not to go to the address, so I was able to go in her place, which I found exciting as an intern. The Governor's address lasted well over an hour, but I enjoyed listening to what he said (and did not say- the Governor has come under much criticism for the speech). I returned to the office sometime around 2 only to go back to a Senate committee hearing. Thankfully, they discussed the bill they were supposed to this time. The Senate then reconvened around 3:30 and quickly discussed the bills on the agenda. The GA does not reconvene for session until after the primary election so many senators and reps were eager to head back to their districts after the address.

Compared to Wednesday, Thursday in the Capitol was silent. More bill reading in the morning, followed by a trip back to the Illinois Building to meet with the Director and Deputy Director of Illinois Funds. IL Funds is a program for use by government entities (like local governments, fire districts, etc.) that acts as the bank for these programs, often with little or no fees and a greater return on investments than a typical bank.

On Friday the staff was allowed to wear jeans to work with a donation to any organization involved with humanitarian work in Haiti. Between the Treasurer's Chicago, Springfield, and Mt. Vernon offices, $1,300 was raised. More bill reading!